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Reddit experimenting with blocking mobile browsers (old.reddit.com)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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As quoted from the linked post.

It looks like you’re part of one of our experiments. The logged-in mobile web experience is currently unavailable for a portion of users. To access the site you can log on via desktop, the mobile apps, or wait for the experiment to conclude.

This is separate from the API issue. This will actually BLOCK you from even viewing reddit on your phone without using the official app.

Archive.org link in case the post is removed.

https://web.archive.org/save/https%3A%2F%2Fold.reddit.com%2Fr%2Fhelp%2Fcomments%2F135tly1%2Fhelpdid_reddit_just_destroy_mobile_browser_access%2Fjim40zg%2F

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[–] [email protected] 63 points 1 year ago (11 children)

This... is dumb. Reddit gets traffic from people using it as a secondary search engine to get relevant answers.

Most people on the Internet view it from mobile. Reddit already makes their mobile experience genuinely awful despite this. Blocking it entirely?

The herding to their mobile app is so transparent (and DEFINITELY through stick, not carrot) I'm morbidly curious to see what horrible things they planning to put in their app that they know users will loathe, that requires their alternatives to be zero.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (3 children)

This will cause search engines to deprioritize reddit threads in search results due to the 'bounce factor'.

[–] deva 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

logged-in mobile web experience

If it's blocked for logged in users, why would that effect search engines?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

The implication here is that if they are testing it on logged in users, then they will eventually roll it out to ALL users, whether logged in or not.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Lots of users use search engines to find topics or solutions on reddit. Since the inbuilt search function of reddit is so bad, it's easier that way.

Reddit is one of the best places to find tech support for more niche topics like open RGB, but you have to fund them somehow.

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